Editorial: Highway 37 plan makes sense, timeline does not

October 01, 2022

Caltrans’ recommendation that Highway 37 be replaced with a four-lane elevated causeway makes sense, both for accommodating growing traffic and for the environment.

But its estimated 20-year timeline to get it built doesn’t.

Especially for those motorists who are regularly stuck in a time-killing traffic jam on the mostly two-lane road from Highway 101 in Novato to Vallejo and Interstate 80.

State Sen. Mike McGuire, who has paid close attention to this issue, says he has “a concern” about Caltrans’ lengthy time line and wants to see it shortened.

Caltrans is also recommending widening the existing roadbed to provide more lanes and has started the environmental review to get that plan approved and constructed.

Don’t expect that process to be a slam dunk.

The prospect of filling in wetlands to build more lanes is not going to be warmly welcomed by environmental groups.

Caltrans’ vision needs to be realistic and practical – fiscally and environmentally.

A proposal to turn Highway 37 into a toll road to help raise cash for the needed overhaul was sidelined this year in the state Assembly.

The good news in Caltrans’ proposal is that the elevated causeway would be built before 2050, when sea level rise is expected to inundate the existing sinking highway.

But that’s an excruciatingly long wait for motorists and the promise that one of the worst traffic jams in the Bay Area will only get worse before a possible remedy is constructed.

McGuire is right, Caltrans needs to come up with a plan that relieves the traffic jam and also moves forward with the raised causeway.

Critics of Caltrans’ proposal, Rep. Jared Huffman among them, warn that investing an estimated $450 million on widening the existing highway is going to undermine hopes of getting federal funding for the raised causeway.

He should know; he’s on the front line when it comes to obtaining that funding.

McGuire is also right. There may be a better answer, a way to speed up construction of what’s been labeled by the state, an “ultimate” improvement.

There may also be room for some interim, less-costly and extensive improvements that could relieve the choke points that now backup traffic without damaging the wetlands.

Motorists should not have to wait until 2042 for relief, especially since during that time the evening traffic jam is expected to get worse.

So is the risk of flooding, which in recent years we have seen close to the Novato stretch, the highway’s low-lying connection to Highway 101, for weeks at a time. That’s a warning sign of things to come.

Building a 21-mile long elevated causeway is an expensive and ambitious project. It is the best and right solution and one that needs to begin sooner than later.


By:  Editorial Board
Source: Marin Independent Journal